In recent months, French people have seen their bill electricity fly away. An outbreak due to increases recorded on the wholesale market, where the price per megawatt hour reached 1,000 euros this summer, ten times more than in September 2021. This is where alternative suppliers buy their electricity, before reselling it to their customers. When the market is low, they can display very attractive prices. But since they are not producers, when the market is high, their prices follow the curves.
EDF customers are at the regulated tariff. Ditto for those of Engie or local gas distribution companies. They are the ones who benefit from the famous tariff shield which has limited the increase to 4% this year. Elisabeth Borne indicated that this device would be extended next year for households. Instead of the price going up 120% in 2023, it will “only” go up 15%.
A cap on the increase which will therefore not concern alternative electricity suppliers. While some try to match, others sometimes double their prices. This is what Johanna experienced recently, who lives alone with her son in a small 30 m2 one-bedroom apartment. “I don’t have a freezer or dryer, and I don’t use the oven very often. The bill went from 68 euros per month to 156 euros. And with a regulation to pay of 395 euros in January! At this rate, I will soon be paying more for electricity than for rent”, deplores this mother who replied to our call for testimonials.
She is not the only one to have taken this rise head-on. Jeannette made “almost all the suppliers to have interesting prices”. The one she had chosen charged her 70 euros a month for gas, but a recent email told her that now it would be 350 euros. “And for electricity, it’s not much better. Times are going to be harder and harder unfortunately, ”she notes.
Return to the regulated rate for some
Some alternative providers have announced the color, pushing their customers to take a closer look at the rates charged elsewhere. Ronald was at Cdiscount Énergie. “When they told me that the price of my monthly bill would go up by 70%, I looked for a new supplier. Except that the cheapest price I found was already 15 euros more per month than what I pay now. If in a few days, I can’t find a supplier who offers me a better price, I will probably turn to EDF to make sure, at least we know that its prices are regulated directly by the State”, explains- he.
Like him, with the energy crisis, many have once more turned to the historical supplier and producer. After having lost customers for many years attracted by attractive tariffs when it was opened up to competition fifteen years ago, EDF is seeing the return of consumers who want stability once more, even in the short term, with regulated tariffs. .
Mae-line was at Engie. But his monthly payments jumped from 65 to 108 euros, “including the subscription, which went from 15 to more than 50 euros”. “We have just changed to EDF’s blue tariff at 70 euros per month and avoid other unpleasant surprises”, she hopes.
Aurélien, also had little taste of seeing changes written in very small form when renewing his contract with Engie. “Looking closely at the appendix, the kWh rate was almost triple that of the old one. In other words, although having a modest consumption for a large house (regarding 4 kWh per year), it was not at all to my taste. So I went to the most advantageous and I will not hesitate to change overnight depending on prices if there are major price changes. However, I think I should refrain from going to small operators in view of what is currently happening. »
Like at Ohm Energiewhich since early September has been the subject of Energy Regulatory Commission investigation. Many readers point to the practices of this alternative supplier, which for example provided no explanation to Ludivine when she asked them to find out why the pain received in August rose from 75 to 117 euros. “Today, I went to Total Energie for the same price, 76 euros. Hoping and crossing our fingers that this does not change… Otherwise we go back to the candle”, she jokes.
Iberdrola does not make its customers laugh
If she had the possibility of turning her back on her supplier, others had no choice. Arrived in 2019 on the French market, the Spaniard Iberdrola did not make his customers laugh in the middle of summer when he sent them a letter telling them that he was thanking them… By ending their contract. Siven was one of the unfortunate recipients. “On the comparisons, the supplier Alpiq seemed competitive to me. I subscribed right away. A week later, I had the unpleasant surprise of seeing my registration canceled due to a technical error. Later on the phone I was told that in fact Alpiq was no longer taking on new clients. I decided to go to EDF, but impossible to get them on the phone. In the end, I went back to Total Energie where I was a client in 2018 under the name of Direct Energie”, says the one who has experienced a real obstacle course.
This Wednesday, Elisabeth Borne affirmed that the government was not fooled, knowing full well that “some are speculating on the crisis”. At a time when inflation is undermining the French budget, the Prime Minister explained that the State intended to act once morest those who risk making profits thanks to electricity on the backs of consumers. A desire that Philippe, one of the readers of 20 Minutes, share. “We can only hope that the energy policeman will put an end to these methods of weather vanes, which are misleading and defy the trust of customers. In the meantime, he offers an alternative to all these suppliers: “The installation of photovoltaic panels with good usage management is a good investment with a possible return over 10 years”.
